Contents

Effects

The effects of dissociatives can include sensory dissociation, hallucinations, mania, catalepsy, analgesia and amnesia.[5][6][7] The characteristic features of dissociative anesthesia were described as catalepsy, amnesia and analgesia.[5] According to Pender (1972), "the state has been designated as dissociative anesthesia since the patient truly seems disassociated from his environment."[8] Bonta (2004) described dissociative anaesthesia as "... a peculiar anaesthetic state in which marked sensory loss and analgesia as well as amnesia is not accompanied by actual loss of consciousness."[9] Both Pender (1970) and Johnstone et al. (1959) reported that patients under anaesthesia due to either ketamine or phencyclidine were prone to purposeless movements and had hallucinations (or "dreams"[10]) during and after anaesthesia. Some patients found the hallucinations euphoric while others found them disturbing.